


Last Battle

by Sevargs



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Angst, Comfort, Emotions, Goku is a loving meathead fight me, M/M, Vegeta being Vegeta (Dragon Ball), that’s a tag and that still gets me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-11 06:48:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15309753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sevargs/pseuds/Sevargs
Summary: “Saiyans would fight, and die. We did more than that. We fought and lived. Living is more than I thought I would ever do.”





	Last Battle

**Author's Note:**

> I chose no archive warnings because I don’t like the contents spoiled by tags. But there is sensitive content within. If you are the sort who is emotionally sensitive to writing, please proceed with caution. If it’s uncomfortable, please close the tab and step away. There’s nothing graphic written or explicit. Just sensitive. But I don’t want to give the ending away.

He was racing, skipping between running and flying—body too tired to teleport and get to the place he needed to be, to close the agonizing distance. In the moment that he needed it the most, he didn’t have it; his worn body couldn’t be trusted to displace him where he would need to go. If he ended up further away, then he would never forgive himself for the mistake. He had to be there. So his legs burned, they burned with every push. Screaming against the pounding of his heart and the rest of his sore body. Please make it. 

The distance was agonizing. It felt like a whole world away. In better condition, he could do this without even picking up his breath, but he was struggling. The incline of the ground strained his body and the jump he had to make, nearly left him buckling; but he’d break his legs to make it there for Vegeta’s sake. Please get there. Please. 

The cold air felt like ice in his chest and needles against his skin. He forced it out, shoving it down and keeping his focus straight forward, taking every step larger and longer. When his energy pooled enough, he burst forward and closed larger gaps. But the more he did that, the harder it was to come back from and the less he could do so. Lead weights felt shackled to his ankles and his feet sunk into the snow, leaving heavy footprints behind. Not now, he pleaded with himself, losing the battle sooner than he was hoping. Let me get to him first. 

His body was the last thing on his mind. He never thought about the consequences of pushing himself before, and he wasn’t going to start now, when it mattered most. When did it become the most important thing in his life to be at his side? That person became the biggest piece of his world and if he wasn’t there, then nothing in the world would fix the void left behind. His sentimental nature was often not what his friends and family wanted of him, but there was something different at play here, and he would destroy his physical form for the sake of making the finish line.

“I’m coming, please don’t give up yet,” he took a breath, drawing anything—any thread of power his ragged body had left and putting it all into the strongest leap his legs could deliver. The strain of his muscles nearly shattered his bones and once he would stop, and the flickering died down, he wouldn’t likely be able to stand; he knew this, but he had to push himself harder. Harder. Harder. Harder than anything he’d ever pushed in his life. This would be the end of the fight.

The landing didn’t matter, if he felt it, he didn’t care. It would catch up later and he would deal with it later. He was running through it now, with the goal in sight only serving to push him through the pain faster, pushing toward Vegeta. He couldn’t feel him, there was nothing to feel, but he knew he was there. His strength was gone. Both of them were too weak to sense each other, but they knew. 

He barely slowed his pace, only stopping at the door to his son’s house, swinging it open to go in. His breath was so heavy that he couldn’t formulate any words. Gohan stood, coming over to him and trying to reach out to him with as much concern as fear, evident in his face. “Dad—you, where’s Pan, I thought she was with you when I called you, why did you—you ran—like this—“

“Where’s….Vegeta—?” He rasped, ignoring Gohan’s fretting, shaking his head. The throbbing in his skull and the quivering in his chest wasn’t enough to stop him now. 

“Dad he’s—“

Goku spun on him and that quivering almost came to a stop at the turn of his son’s voice. Gohan’s expression was difficult to read and his eyes darted wildly across his son’s face, “Gohan? Gohan where is he? Is he—?”

A deep breath followed and Gohan took him by the arm, Goku felt separated from his body in a way he hadn’t felt before. Just tell me. “He’s...not going to last for a lot longer, Dad. He’s in a really bad condition. I’ve tried, but he’s...not really cooperating anymore. Just...please remember...it’s Vegeta…” 

I made it… 

He nodded easily, despite the news. As long as he made it, it would be okay. That’s what he told himself. They could make it through this. Vegeta was stubborn enough to hang on. “Let me see him.”

“Yeah…” Gohan nodded, knowing that Goku’s body was damaged badly and needed to be tended to, but telling him that now would never go over. He was going to Vegeta. Whether he had to ask or not. If he could, after, then Gohan would try to tend to him, for now, he would try to see to them both, even if he knew that Vegeta was well beyond the point of saving. The internal bleeding was so far beyond control that even Goku understood the consequences. 

Stepping into the room, Goku felt a rush of feeling he thought he was prepared to combat, but he wasn’t so sure, when it actually hit him. To see, was not to think, and Vegeta had been in bad states before, but the difference was never so permanent. The bluish tint to his lips and darkness under his eyes did nothing for the image of strength Vegeta had, neither did the deep bruises littering his body—like he’d been beaten to death, but was too stubborn to die immediately. 

“Always late to the damn party, Kakarot,” Vegeta’s voice filled the empty room, despite sounding quiet.

It was all it took for Goku to come over and buckle by the side of the bed. All of his inwardly proclaimed self defenses came down with less effort than it took for his legs to collapse under him. “You look awful,” he mumbled, leaning against the mattress, arms propping him up.

“Look who’s talking, dumb ass. You pushed yourself too hard.”

“I wasn’t going to make it back.”

“Have some faith in me, I’ve waited a lot longer than that for you to get your shit together in the past,” he rolled a little and reached an arm out to brush the back of his knuckles against Goku’s cheek. The action almost caused his heart to stop again. Don’t be gentle now. 

“We can fix this. Gohan can—“

“Kakarot, don’t be stupid, there are no organs in my body that aren’t bleeding into each other and trust me I can feel it. You would have to remove them all and give me new ones.”

“Maybe the dragon could—“

“Couldn’t even turn 17 and 18 back into full humans. And I don’t want immortality. I’ve also already died too many times and—“

“Porunga—“

“....Does not bring back natural death.”

“...I know,” he inhaled deeply, putting his head down, into Vegeta’s opened hand. “I just...didn’t expect...this to be how it would go…”

“Kakarot, one day there was going to be a battle that we couldn’t win. It’s just not the one we expected. You fight for power and lose to the one fight you think about the least.”

“...I guess so…” He kept his face down, unwilling to look at him directly. 

“If I’d spent a little less time in the Time Chamber, then maybe this would be happening a little later. But then, maybe we’d be dead anyway. Who knows. Saiyans didn’t generally live as long as we did. We should be proud of that.”

Goku looked up then, his face wedging Vegeta’s cool hand between his cheek and the mattress. “Why’s that?”

“Saiyans would fight, and die. We did more than that. We fought and lived. Living is more than I thought I would ever do. That’s your fault.” His voice was quiet, but Goku listened. He never spoke much, not like this. If he was never going to say words like these again, Goku was going to memorize them. 

Vegeta’s fingers curled, and he didn’t have the strength to do anything more than vaguely gesture, but it was enough to get the point across to Goku, and he fumbled from the edge of mattress. The hollowness of his legs made it a struggle to push himself on to the bed, but he managed to bring himself up beside him. Together, they both looked so tired. Vegeta had once told him that Saiyans aged well, until it caught up, and when it did, it really did. That wasn’t a lie at all. 

“Guess you weren’t all that bad, Kakarot. For a low class pain in my ass, you...were adequate,” Vegeta mumbled, the arm that had been under Goku’s cheek snaked around under him and his fingers pressed into his back. 

Goku wrapped his arms around the smaller body and found his spirit wracking within him, “I wish you’d like me Vegeta,” he teased a little, but he knew that love and trust were already well planted. Vegeta would die too stubborn to speak it. Literally.

“Never.” 

Goku curled around him, pouting through his misty eyes. Vegeta turned his face into his neck and closed his eyes. Goku was not ready for it, but his life of living on the fly meant that he dealt with everything in a wild flurry. He didn’t wake up prepared for it. But he didn’t really wake up prepared for the day Vegeta arrived on Earth. He didn’t wake up prepared for Vegeta to become his closest companion. He didn’t prepare for Vegeta to somehow become the center of his universe. 

He would wake up and his center of the universe would be gone. He wasn’t prepared for that.

The tears he shed would have embarrassed Vegeta if he was still there enough to berate him for it, and maybe he was. But maybe being loved enough for someone to cry, was enough to stop him from saying anything. Maybe he didn’t want to go either, but some battles had to be lost. They would never win them all. 

Goku would be left waiting for his last battle, and if he knew Vegeta, he would not forgive him if he didn’t go down without a fight. So he curled around him tightly, knowing that by the next morning, he would be on the battlefield alone.

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written on the damn fly because I was listening to the song Salvation by Gabrielle Aplin on repeat for an hour. This is what happens when I do that. My bad. Proceed with the pitchforks now.


End file.
